Do you remember the first item you ever sold online? Let us know by sending an email to ina@auctionbytes.com and we may publish your story. Today, we hear from two sellers, Michael and Barbara, who have very different first-time stories.
Hi.
I am an Australian seller, and the first item I sold was in January 2002. Well, I should say it was the first item I had listed to sell. It was a bunch of mostly Rolling Stone and other music magazines.
I was excited to see the auction end and a member from the USA was the winning buyer. It wasn't a huge winning bid, but I was simply thrilled with selling them.
Unfortunately, neither of us had properly considered the huge cost to post the heavy collection of magazines to the USA. We both happily agreed to not go through with the sale. It was pretty funny at the time.
It took me another 3 years before I was to sell on eBay again, and I haven't looked back. I still have that bunch of magazines packaged up somewhere around the house!
Cheers,
Michael
(eBay ID: BansheeTown)
********
My first ebay auction was a Dick and Jane Reader Workbook. I had gone to a yard sale and found a whole stack of Dick and Jane workbooks all from the 50's and new never used in Mint condition. The lady saved them from the attic of a school and she was selling them for ten cents a piece. I bought all of them.
I could not believe the prices I was getting for them. That was in l999.
I do not think ebay is like it used to be. Not sure what the problem is but I yearn for the good old days of ebay. I still sell but get a lot less for the items that I used to get a lot for.
Barbara
MilwaukeeBarbara
About the author:
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
